Gordon McDonald
Your job title:
Vice President, Project Manger for Research Distribution
Length of Service so far:
4 ½ years
Describe your current role?
I run a suite of applications that process and distribute Credit and Equities research for J.P.Morgan. I manage a team of developers working on several different applications. Usually we have several key projects running in parallel so much of my time is spent coordinating between the various workstreams and working directly with the business sponsors.
Although I don’t develop code any more, I maintain architectural responsibilities for my applications and continue to be involved in designing the next generation of our applications.
What do you enjoy most about working for J.P.Morgan?
Every day is different. Everything moves so fast that what I start doing in the morning can be completely different by the afternoon. Priorities change fast in this industry and we have to react accordingly. It keeps us on our toes and makes working here very enjoyable.
Describe your career so far?
I graduated in 1997 with a 1st class honors degree in Computer Science from St. Andrews University. I began work as a developer at a company called Atlantech Technologies writing network management software; Atlantech were later acquired by Cisco Systems. In 2003 I left Cisco Systems and came to work for J.P.Morgan as a senior developer and progressed into technical project management which is what I do today. I became a Vice President in 2006.
When did you first become interested in technology as a career?
I suppose seriously when I was at school. I had always been interested in programming and engineering in general. Software engineering suited me well – it allowed me to be creative and technical. I still get a real buzz out of seeing something work for the first time.
What made J.P.Morgan attractive to you?
I had spent years working for companies where software was seen as the add-on. At J.P.Morgan, technology - and software in particular - is the very core of everything we do. Having the software I wrote being used every day in business-critical applications and being part of that very important hub was important to me.
What was your first impression when you came to J.P.Morgan for interview?
The city center offices are excellent, literally 200 yards from the station. Being in the heart of the city every day is a fantastic asset.
How do you ‘make a difference’ in your work?
Every day J.P.Morgan produces hundreds of important research documents. All of those documents are processed by applications that I have set up in the past or manage today. Our job as a technology team is to make things faster and more efficient. Research is at its most valuable at the time it is written and it quickly loses its value as the contents become common knowledge. Since I started at J.P.Morgan we have made distribution of research more than 10 times faster, ensuring that the research is in the hands of our clients quicker than our competitors. We’re pretty proud of that.
Where do you commute from?
Dunblane
What technologies or technological issues are most important to your clients/customers?
Uptime, accuracy and speed are all essential.
How have the training opportunities / program assisted in your career at J.P.Morgan?
J.P.Morgan place a very high emphasis on training and specialise the training to the individual's particular career path.
I have recently earned my masters certificate in project management for George Washington Business School and I am currently studying for my Project Mangement Professional (PMP) exam.
What are the key challenges facing technology over the next 12 months?
Systems that processed low volumes of data last year can now be some of the busiest today – keeping up with that pace of change is paramount to successful execution in today’s marketplace.
In a male dominated industry what career tips would you give to a female who's just starting up on her career?
Don’t be intimidated. Women can succeed in this industry just as well as men - in my career I have had more female managers than male. This IS a male-dominated industry but by numbers only. It is so important for companies like J.P.Morgan to utilise the expanding talent pool of female staff.